MELASTOMACE/E. 
47 
angle of each nerve. Flowers white : peduncles short, 
solitary, seldom more than one-flowered. A pair of mi- 
nute ovate bracteoles appressed to the calyx. Calyx 
more or less tinged with crimson ; externally with a mi- 
nute stellated pubescence ; globose at the base : tube 
subtetragonal ; teeth 4, long, subulate, inserted below and 
outside of the margin which is subenlire. Petals shorter 
than the calycine teeth, spathulate with the apex acute. 
Stamens 8 : filaments kneed : anthers curved, lanceolate, 
onc-pored, yellow. Ovary glabrous: style subulate, 
longer than the stamens, stained with crimson : stigma 
acute. Berry crowned with the tube and teeth of the 
calyx, black, 4-cellcd : seeds numerous, wedge-shaped, 
angular. 
According to Swartz, the leaves are 3-nerved. This 
error has been corrected by DeCandolle, who has pro- 
perly described them as 3-ply-nerved ; but adds, that the 
margin is subrepando-denticulatcd — a character which I 
have not observed in the specimens that I have met with. 
The leaves, in this species, are less distinctly nerved than 
in any other of the order. 
V. OsSJEA. 
Calycine tube adherent to but not produced 
beyond the ovary, ovate ; lobes 4, short, acute. 
Petals 4, lanceolate, acute. Stamens 8, short : 
anthers scarcely auriculated at the base. Ovary 
subglabrous at the apex : style filiform : stigma 
simple. Berry 4-celled, crowned with the lobes 
of the calyx : seeds ovate, angular. 
Leaves generally triply-nerved. Flowers small, axil- 
lary. — Named by DeCandolle in honor of Senor de 
la Ossa, a Botanical explorer of Cuba. 
1. Osssea Scabrosa. Scabrous Ossaa. 
Stem shrubby hirsute, branches terete hirsute, 
leaves ovate subacuminate denticulato-ciliated 
triply-nerved papilloso-scabrous foveolated and 
hoary tomentose beneath, flowers very crowd- 
ed sessile octandrous, calyx 4-cleft hirsute 
with divisions subulate minute, petals 4 scarcely 
